


Music To Their Ears

by DramaticGarbage



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: College AU, LAMP/CALM - Freeform, Lamp - Freeform, M/M, Soulmate AU, calm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-09-28 17:10:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20429504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DramaticGarbage/pseuds/DramaticGarbage
Summary: When soulmates share the music they hear, having multiple soulmates means coming up with a bit of an unspoken schedule. Maybe a break in routine is what it will take to bring them together.





	Music To Their Ears

Logan awoke, ready for his usual morning routine. It was just like any other day, he reached over to turn off his alarm, swing his legs over the edge of his bed, then lift his arms and get a good stretch in. It would have been purely calm and quiet had it not been for the latest catchy pop song playing in the background of his thoughts. He’d spent some time wondering about what his soulmate must be like, he knew he woke up early for most people’s standards, but there was always already current radio playing before he woke up. 

It was the soundtrack to his morning, and while it wasn’t exactly his style of music, he’d grown to appreciate the reminder that someone was there. Of course, he had plenty of reminders, as he was fairly confident that he actually had multiple soulmates - three to be precise. They’d all silently claimed different times of the day for their music choices, and how they’d been able to so amicably do so without any actual words between them was rather impressive, all things considered. But this first fourth of the day belonged to top 40 and generally cheery pop, Logan unable to keep from softly moving his head to the beat as he prepared his breakfast and began to get ready to head to campus for the day. 

He had time to finish his breakfast, get fully dressed - tie and all, grab his bag and his case, drive to campus, park, and walk all the way to his destination before the music stopped. He smiled softly to himself as it cut out right as his hand fell on the doorknob for the room, knowing it was now his turn. 

Roman was still somewhat lazily lounging about his room, not having gotten moving just yet. He woke up a bit later, smiling as he woke up to the popular radio music, but not actually getting up until it stopped. He appreciated that his first two soulmates seemed to have coordinated an exact time when they switched off who would be providing their background track, it gave him a signal of when he should actually get out of bed. 

There were a few quiet minutes, Roman able to get up, slip on some of his comfortable stretchy pants and a red tank top that was so low cut on the sides it could barely be considered clothing, before the new music took over. He smiled to himself, the beauty of the classical instrumental music giving him the inspiration to dance through his apartment as if he were in a grand ballroom. He spun and twirled his way through the space, acting as though he were some regal prince performing for his kingdom. Roman even threw in a grand bow when he had to stop and actually throw together his breakfast - which was an arm full of fruits, veggies, and assorted health powders that made their into the blender. 

Once he’d poured his smoothie into his designated travel cup he resumed his movement, pirouetting to the best of his ability in socks on linoleum. His, thankfully, sealed cup was held at the end of his arm, the young man acting as though it was his dance partner as he went about his motions. By the time he was somewhat tired he checked the time and saw that he’d spent more time dancing about than he necessarily had wanted to - a pretty normal occurrence for him, and had to rush to go grab his bag and throw on his shoes, hurrying off to campus. 

The classical music took him all the way through to putting his bag in it’s designated spot, it softly fading out as he was ready for his turn to start. He smiled, striding forward and ready to start. 

Virgil was suffering, on cup of coffee number three, collapsed back against his couch. He’d woken up somewhere in the middle of the classical music, dragging himself out of bed and to the coffee maker. His sleep schedule was pretty garbage, but fixing it sounded like effort and ain’t nobody got time for that. So he had just trudged his way to the coffee maker, throwing himself down on the couch for some internet time while he tried to caffeinate the tired away. 

The emo didn’t realize just how much time had passed until a long beautiful vocal note sounded in the back of his mind, forcing him to suddenly notice that the classical music had stopped. He closed his eyes and listened for a moment, focusing on the song. …Yet another showtune, he smiled softly to himself. It was strange, he knew nearly all of the songs that his apparently very theatrical soulmate played, but they never seemed to play the originals. 

His soulmate always played covers. Excellent covers, whoever was singing was obviously extremely talented. But he just didn’t recognize the voice. Maybe it was a YouTube channel or something. He’d have to ask them some day. For now, he’d just stay there on his couch and listen along, letting the music ease him into something closer to actual consciousness. 

It was late afternoon by the time they stopped, Virgil sitting up and starting to get on to some kind of dinner. It was after the showtunes stopped that they had a bit of a break in their more scheduled chunks of music time. Sometimes the pop would start back up, or any other random radio station or CD, just whoever decided to be the one to give a background track to their dinnertime. It was never known exactly which of them did it by the others, but it was nice. It just felt right to have that time, knowing that they were all listening to the same thing. 

Then the music would stop, just before what seemed to be an acceptable, respectable time for bed. They’d wait, two of them getting tucked into the sheets, two sitting atop their blankets. Then the classical music would start up again. Much softer, quieter… A lullaby of sorts. With gentle smiles on their faces, the two would normally drift off to sleep, letting the beautiful sound of the instrument send them to sleep. The third would listen for as long as it played, waiting a good few moments after it completely stopped to finally turn on his own music, which is what the fourth would then fall asleep to.

Patton’s alarm went off, exceptionally early. He was up far before the sun was, yawning a little as he got out of bed and got dressed for work. He had a bit of a softly exasperated expression on his face, still hearing the darker, sadder music playing in the back of his mind. He wasn’t sure if the others heard much of their third soulmate’s music, but he knew if he woke up and it was still playing that they hadn’t gone to sleep yet. Patton softly shook his head, worrying about their little night owl, but all he could do at the moment was get ready for work. Sliding his trusty apron over over his head, he made his way out into the cool early morning air. 

As much as he didn’t want one of his soulmates to still be awake at this hour, it did make him feel a little less alone as he walked along the empty sidewalk. It was not at all his style of music, but that didn’t matter. They were there, offering their own kind of company, and that was more than enough to make him feel warm, even on his brisk walk.

There was a bit of an unspoken rule that they didn’t like to play music over each other, but Patton was willing to break it on occasion when it meant reminding a certain someone that it was time for bed. So when he slipped inside of work, he flipped his music on along with the lights, and it only took a moment before the other music stopped. With a soft smile, he went to get to work, setting their schedule to begin once more. 

Generally, their routine was pretty set, but every so often things would end up throwing a bit of a monkey wrench into the plan. It wasn’t bad, necessarily. Sometimes fate had a way of making sure things lined up exactly right. 

Separately, and unbeknownst to each other, Logan and Virgil both let out a bit of an annoyed sigh as they checked their school email. Apparently the theater director had convinced both the advanced orchestra professor and one of the high level art professors to do a collaboration for the upcoming play. There was to be a live orchestral arrangement for one of the big musical pieces, and the art class would be assisting in painting several large backdrops. It wasn’t what they generally did, but both their teachers had turned this little project into a fairly substantial chunk of their grade… So they’d definitely be turning up to the theater when told to do so. 

The artists had had to show up sooner than the musicians did, seeing as the music could be rehearsed in their own practice space until a more practical rehearsal was deemed necessary. So Virgil had begun showing up to the theater, the piece he’d been tasked with was a late night scene in front of some dark trees… And seeing as he generally was up late, painting and looking out his window - this was something he was pretty confident he could accomplish well enough. 

He had slipped his headphones on for the first few sessions, but whenever the showtunes would start up in the back of his thoughts he’d just turn off his music and switch his headphones over to strict noise cancellation, not wanting to miss any of the beautiful music. Virgil was able to paint and ignore the world around him, just wanting to finish this project and get back to his usual routine, but with the size of the backdrop that he’d volunteered to do alone just so he wouldn’t have to work with someone else… He’d be at this for quite a few sessions. 

Logan had learned his piece easily enough, he’d been playing the violin since he was rather young, it just came naturally to him and he thoroughly enjoyed it. What he didn’t enjoy was the mixup in his routine, but it wasn’t the worst thing in the world. He had had to move his usual practice time into the theater itself over the past few days, as the group of musicians needed to figure out how they’d need to adjust in the new space. 

In their usual music practice space, there was a designated area where they placed their bags and personal items so that they would be out of the way amongst all instruments and cases. But there just wasn’t such a place for them in the theater. They’d ended up simply dropping their personal effects on the theater seats, grabbing them once they’d finished rehearsal. But it was because of this change in routine that Logan found himself having to walk to the theater after he’d already left for the day, after he’d realized he’d left his bag behind. 

As he walked back, the showtunes had started up again. He heard them clearly enough, like always, sounding as if there was a fairly quiet speaker just behind him. But it was strange… As he went, it was as though he could hear the music coming from two places. It’s normal spot just behind him… But somehow also ahead of him down the hallway.

He followed the sound, leading him right back into the theater he had been in before for his rehearsal. As he stood in the doorway and took in the sight before him, he finally realized exactly what he’d been listening to for all this time. 

There on the stage was a young man, singing beautifully to a background track behind him. …Those showtunes he’d been hearing this whole time had been him this entire time? They hadn’t been recordings. It had been… Logan found himself wandering up onto the stage, staring at him and watching him practice until the song finished and the actor just looked over at him, blinking as he justified someone he’d never seen before staring at him. 

Logan was looking over this gorgeous talented boy… Someone who was apparently his soulmate. 

“…Uh, Hi. Can I.. Help you with something?” Roman asked, not sure why he was being stared at. 

“Hello… Yes, I believe so. I.. I didn’t realize that that had been you singing all this time. I thought you just.. Enjoyed listening to showtunes.” Logan said slowly, watching his eyes for realization. 

An awed smile slowly spread across Roman’s face, and now it was his turn to study the one before him. His eyes eventually fell on the instrument case that was held in his hand and he responded in a hushed voice. “…I never knew it was you… Actually playing the violin.” 

The two of them were looking at one another with soft expressions, equally impressed by their soulmate’s talent. Roman had stepped closer to him, opening his mouth to introduce himself, but both of their attention was pulled away slightly when emo music began play in the back of both their minds.

“…That emo nightmare is at it again.” Roman let out an exaggerated groan, but Logan could see the fond smile on his lips despite his complaint. The musician went to respond but movement behind Roman distracted him slightly, pulling his gaze away to see… There was someone else at the back of the stage, with head phones on, and he’d just been putting his phone back into his pocket before going to resume painting once more. 

Logan slowly just pointed off toward him, causing Roman to spin around and see an edgy jacket that definitely implied the wearer’s music choice. He quickly patted his pockets down to find something, anything… And thankfully what he ended up finding was relatively soft. With a surprisingly accurate toss, Roman got the third person’s attention by managing to hit them in the back - fairly gently, with the half of a protein bar he had stuffed in his pocket. 

Virgil spun around, completely shocked by the sudden pat to his back, seeing two people looking at him from further away than should have been possible and then glancing down to see a shoddily rewrapped protein bar. With a raised eyebrow he looked back at the actor. 

“…Did you seriously just throw food at me?” He asked, his eyebrow arching high. 

Roman just pointed to his own ear. “Are you seriously listening to MCR?” 

With that, Virgil’s eyes widened and he reached up to his headphones, flipping one out so it became a speaker, the other two able to confirm that the exact moment of the exact song was what they were listening to. 

The actor was bouncing giddily, looking back and forth between them, completely ecstatic that he’d just found two of his soulmates. Virgil had to take a moment, justifying the violin case and that fact that the showtunes had only stopped several moments ago… But there was no evidence that the actor had been playing them from anywhere.. 

“I’m Roman! It’s so amazing to meet the two of you!” He broke the silence, too excited. 

“Logan.” Logan answered, nodding slightly and giving them a smile. 

“Uh, Virgil.” The artist added, putting down his paintbrush to actually join them over where they were standing, turning off his music as he did so. 

“This is so exciting! Are you two free at the moment? Can we go talk a bit? I just have to get to know you both!” Roman was still looking back and forth between them excitedly. 

“I am, perhaps we could go get something to eat?” Logan offered.

“I could go for a coffee.” Virgil shrugged a little noncommittally, but he was smiling softly.

“Glorious! Let’s go!” Roman gestured for them to follow him, just taking off in a direction. The other two exchanged surprised glances but were quick to take off behind him, not wanting to fall behind. 

They fell in step beside one another, walking off toward wherever Roman was leading them. The actor talked all the while, the other two fine with listening and piping up whenever necessary.

Only once did they think to ask Roman if it was okay that he just essentially bailed in the middle of his rehearsal time, but he was quick to wave it off as no one would blame him when it was about meeting his soulmates. They just took his word for it.

It was while they were still walking and talking that the familiar pop music began to play once again, them all glancing at each other as it did, confirming they all heard it. 

“…It’s unfortunate that this song is so common.” Logan said, mostly to himself. 

“Yeah, what are the odds you can track someone down on something that plays all the time, everywhere?” Virgil added, shaking his head. 

“Don’t be such pessimists, my lovelies! Fate is always just around the corner! I have no doubt we’ll find our missing love soon!” Roman boomed, lifting a dramatic hand as though he was still performing. 

Virgil and Logan exchanged looks of fond exasperation but just continued along, Roman leading them into a bakery just off the edge of campus. 

The three of them stopped short the moment they made it inside, the single employee had obviously not noticed them enter, as the radio was still turned up, playing a very familiar song. And there he was, dancing by himself around the cafe.

Roman nearly squealed in sheer joy, rushing forward and just taking the boy’s hands into his own. The employee paused in surprise, but after looking up at Roman’s charming face for a moment he couldn’t help but smile, holding on to his hands as well and allowing the actor to join his dance around the bakery lobby. He naturally began to lead him, Patton happy to follow. 

Virgil and Logan shared looks of disbelief and silently agreed they wouldn’t be admitting that Roman had been right… They hadn’t even known him for an hour and it was already clear that that wasn’t a good plan. So they just took seats at a table, smiling as they watched the two of them enjoying themselves. Later they would explain to the friendly baker who they were and why he’d been accosted by the overly excited actor, but for now the calmer two were more than happy to simply sit and let them have their fun.


End file.
